Magnetism is at the heart of information technology. Most of the information stored worldwide is based on concepts involving the spin that an electron can carry. Today, we are producing more and more information that we want to store and access in smaller devices at shorter time scales than currently available. This calls for paradigm shifts not only in what defines the information-bit but also in the concepts used to read and write information. The goal of this project is to explore how fundamental electron's degrees of freedom - spin, charge and spin-orbit interaction - give rise to new magnetic states of matter, how they can be manipulated efficiently and how they behave over time once they are shaked with external stimuli. Utilising fundamental concepts derived from quantum mechanics, we aim at exploring, realistically, new magnetic phases of matter and their corresponding dynamical excited states using, in particular, atomic design to tailor beneficial physical properties down to the atomic level.
We propose to go beyond the state of the art by investigating from first-principles the dynamical properties of chiral spin textures in nanostructures from 2-dimensions to 0-dimension with these nanostructures being deposited on different substrates where spin-orbit interaction plays a major role. Understanding their response to external dynamical fields (electric/magnetic) or currents will impact on the burgeoning field of nano-spin-orbitronics. Indeed, to achieve efficient manipulation of nano-sized functional spin textures, it is imperative to exploit and understand their resonant motion, analogous to the role of ferromagnetic resonance in spintronics. A magnetic skyrmion is an example of a spin-swirling texture characterized by a topological number that will be explored. This spin state has huge potential in nanotechnologies thanks to the low spin currents needed to manipulate it.
Based on time-dependent density functional theory and many-body perturbation theory, our innovative scheme will deliver a paradigm shift with respect to existing theoretical methodologies and will provide a fundamental understanding of: (i) the occurrence of chiral spin textures in reduced dimensions, (ii) their dynamical spin-excitation spectra and the coupling of the different excitation degrees of freedom and (iii) their impact on the electronic structure.
We expect that the results collected from this project will contribute to a better understanding on how to realise nano-devices of importance in nanotechnologies and to discover effects that can be useful in storing, manipulating and reading information.
